Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

The Old Amoeba Trick

One thing about IGs and Investigatory Committees is that they don’t bite the hand that feeds them. An IG works for a Commander or a Director of a large federal bureaucracy. Both do a fairly good job of getting to the facts as long as they don’t threaten the Commander, Director or Appointing Authority.

When those at the top feel threatened by a situation they set the IG to investigating or appoint a special fact finding committee to “Get to the Bottom of things.” What this translates to is that if the matter under investigation can be contained at mid-management levels or below, then the results usually provide some useful insights. However, when the scandal points to or embarrasses those at the top that is when the old Amoeba Trick kicks in. That is when the investigators begin to weasel around, skirting the truth and leading the trail in another direction. This is especially true when the process is conducted behind "Closed Doors." We saw a great example of this during the Benghazi scandal when the Appointing Authority at the State Department was not even questioned. Then there were the infamous "Talking Points." It wasn’t that they lied but rather that when it looked like a lead might threaten the boss they steered the process away, moved around or pushed off on a tangent. It's a world of JELLO where anything goes in protecting a patron.

In his book Operation Dark Heart, LTC Shaffer was naive to believe that the special committee investigating 911 was seriously bent on discovering the truth. Sure they would report a bunch of benign findings but the last thing they wanted to uncover was revelation that showed the mistakes made at top levels of government. When Shaffer testified the Chief Investigators politely thanked him and quietly reported to his higher ups the testimony he'd provided. Can you imagine the Bombshell that would have followed had it been known that the DIA knew about Mohammad Atta a year prior to 911?

The lesson learned is that only a fool would trust an IG or an Investigatory Committee with testimony where the Commander, Director or Appointing authority would be open to embarrassment, second guessing or ridicule. When it comes to the top tiers of leadership these investigatory instruments are tools more for misdirection than ones designed to uncover the truth. This is why Mr. George's report at the IRS was such an anomaly and took everybody by surprise. One of the first lessons a top Bureaucrat learns is never appoint a person to such a position, whose personal loyalty is not tied to the apron strings of the boss. The type of character who makes a good IG or Special Committee chief is someone with a flexible and pragmatic morality, and understands The Old Amoeba Trick.